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Those Were The Days

By Corinne Rodrigues on September 5, 2013

“Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end….” goes the song. But this is something slightly different.

I’ve officially reached that time in my life when I long for the good old days, the good old ways, values and behaviour. My recent forays into socializing with younger, more ‘with-it’ people, have made me long for times when everything seemed simpler. Days when you made friends with people just because you liked them and not for how you could use them. Days when you didn’t need to say how much you were earning or talk about the price of your designer shoes. Days when children were allowed to be children. Days when love meant so much more than a quick fling. Days when the little gestures were not taken for granted and you showed genuine gratitude to people who did something for you.

These days it’s all about:

Playing the victim. What ever happened to good old responsibility?

Flaunting your wealth and other stuff. What ever happened to good old simplicity?

Showing off your achievements (real or imagined). What ever happened to good old modesty?

Brazenly lying through your teeth. What ever happened to good old credibility?

Calling yourself a goddess and acting like a diva. What ever happened to good old humility?

Being loud and making people wait. What ever happened to good oldcivility?

I, me and my. What ever happened to good old charity?

But if we want to we can bring back ‘those days’ – it’s just a matter of choice, isn’t it?

Like this:

A lover of words. A self-acceptance blogger. A blogging coach. A book reviewer. A woman happily journeying through midlife, moving from self-improvement to self-acceptance and enjoying being herself.
Corinne writes at Everyday Gyaan, reviews fiction at CorinneRodrigues.com and encourages writers and bloggers at Write Tribe and offers offline coaching to writers and bloggers at The Frangipani Creative, located in Secunderabad, India.

I too like to think about the good old days but now it is extremely difficult to imagine a life without internet, cellphones, a 100 channels and my now car. I guess the concept exists in our memories for a reason. 🙂

I just love that old song ‘Those were the days’. Yes, it all boils down to a matter of choice I’m afraid. We don’t have to fight, go to war, be cruel, be offensive but there is always the one who wants to be in charge, take the lead and tell others what to do. That’s partly why we can’t always get along.

I’d love to have just one week of total serenity from back in the day. How glorious that would be.

Frankly, I disagree with this theory of ‘good old days’. There never have been any ‘good old days’ as such. They are just memories of personal good days. What’s “good old days” for you was “bad present day” for the previous generation. What’s a “bleak present” for you today is going to be “good old days”‘ for the present generation some years down the line. It is all relative. If we are unable to see that it is because we have not been able to take a step backwards. 🙂
Cheers!

All 7 points are due to the fact that we have become a materialistic society. Everything we do is for money. Even education is acquired only for money and not for love of the subject. Money is certainly important, but it’s not the be-all and end-all of life.
One can easily bring back ‘those days’ simply by being oneself, not trying to be what others expect one to be. The risk is being labelled a misfit, but who wants to fit anyway? It’s more than enough if one ‘fits in’ with a few few like-minded people.

Corinne – you are not the only one in your nostalgic era.Give me my childhood days and take away my wealth.”Yeh Daulat Bhi Le Lo, Yeh Shaurat Bhi Le Lo, Bhale Cheen Lo Mujhse Se Meri Jawani, Magar Mujhko Lauta Do Bachpan Ka Sawan”
Its good to relish your lost period but one should live the present moments like there is no tomorrow.After all in few years present will become past & all we left with memories.So lets make them as beautiful & meaningful as we can……………………..

I was telling someone the other day – When I left India in the late-90s, the country seemed kinder, gentler, quietly confident, civil. When I returned at the end of the next decade, it had become boorish and pompous, reveling in its all pervasive mediocrity.
Where did we lose our innocence and our values…our way? It’s all quite sad. And more so when someone like you so eloquently holds aloft the mirror for all of to see the kind of Dorian Grays we have become.

When all of them have uttered it, then it must be true. This seems to be the trend everywhere, Corinne. And, with the advent of Facebook, this trend gains a stamp and place to show off those seven traits. Even the movies are different these days. Your seven makes me crinkle my brow and let out a sigh. I miss the way my parents lived their lives.

Your posts always makes me think…
Yes, things have changed now…all that you asked for in your 7 questions is becoming rare to find…
Its high time to leave things which do not matter much and concentrate on things which can make us better !

Right on, Corinne! I totally agree! I want all those things back, too. Too bad the world has come to that state where selfishly being out for number one is more important than good old fashioned values of being good to your fellow human being. Let’s start a movement to restore these values! *SHAKES FIST!*

So so true on all counts Corrine, wonder what has happened to humility, being honest to oneself and all those good old time trusted values that our grandparents and parents taught us when we were young. Today’s world seems so much like a rat race all the time with people willing to trample over each other and themselves just to get an edge over others. Sad but true…isn’t it?

corinne ! I went back for few minutes …… in those days and loved being there for a while.. so true of what you have written. I still like to make a choice to be simple, grateful and authentic…. it is satisfying to be that way.. thanks for sharing, loved your post.

Loved it!! So very very true in every way. What happened to accountability and just being respectful of others? We always run across these people every day. My only wish is that I raised my children with some of the values that we were raised with back in the day!!

Loved the beautiful picture Corinne. and I echo your thoughts. Reading your posts made me re-collect my good old days. The good old days were when one did not need a topic to talk with friends.Goods old days were when one could knock at one’s door without a prior telephonic appointment and was sure to be greeted with a smile.